Book Review: “Queenship in Medieval France, 1300-1500” by Murielle Gaude-Ferragu

This book is part of a series called The New Middle Ages published by Palgrave Macmillan. The series is dedicated to pluridisciplinary studies of medieval cultures, with a particular emphasis on recuperating women’s history, and on feminist and gender analyses. The peer-reviewed series includes scholarly monographs and essay collections. The book was originally published in 2014 in French. It was translated by Angela Kreiger and published in English in 2016. Gaude-Ferragu is University Professor of History at the Université Paris-13, Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, France.

At the beginning, there is a list of Queens of France covered in the time period given. This book is basically a list of duties required and exhibited for the queen in France and her relevance to the government and the symbolism of royalty. Gaude-Ferragu explains how the queen has a physical body and the royal body. The woman marries the King and there is a wedding ceremony. Following this, there is usually a coronation although in some cases during this two hundred year period, several queens were not crowned (Marie of Anjou, Charlotte of Savoy, etc.) Some of the coronations are retold in detail.

Perhaps the most important duty of a queen of France is to bear the king an heir, preferably male. The lying in period is explained. The Queen is responsible for the children’s upbringing and education. The next section of the book explains the power of the queen. Although women were barred by Salic Law from sitting on the throne and ruling in their own right, many of these women held some form of governing power, whether it was on the King’s Council or as regent for their young sons such as Isabeau of Bavaria. Other queens were not allowed to have much of a role at all. Gaude-Ferragu explains how queens represented the love of the government for the people and her role as intercessor.

Another section of the book covers the Queen’s ceremonial roles such as joyful entries into towns or funerals. The Queen’s household and courtly life is explained such as the operation of her treasury, her income and how it is derived, her library and her support as an advocate and patroness of the arts. The Queen is also expected to display piety in her daily life as well as in the establishment of religious and sacred foundations.

So many things are covered in this book and it is full of delightful personal details regarding the life of some of these women. There are a few illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography. Nothing is lost in the translation of the text. This is a textbook definition of the role of medieval queens in France and I’m sure these duties would be expected of other queens across Europe. Academics and casual readers would enjoy this book. I can’t recommend it enough.